Chapter 29 Larissa
LARISSA
Lexi wiped around the coffee station. “It wasn’t my finest moment, but sometimes you just gotta do it for the plot, you know?”
She’d hooked up with one of the cooks.
The restaurant was closed and we were doing our side work. It was November. The café was decorated with autumn leaves, but soft snowflakes were coming down outside.
I shook my head. “It’s going to be weird working with him now.”
“How?”
“You’ve seen him naked?” I said.
“So? He gets me my rush orders faster.”
I choked on a laugh.
“What happened with the guy who came in last week?” I asked. “I thought you were texting him,” I said, still smiling.
“The finance bro? Hard pass. He sent me a black-and-white dick pic.”
I paused with a syrup bottle in my hand. “Black and white?”
“Yeah. Super stylized, like an engagement shoot, only with a penis? He used portrait mode.”
I burst out laughing.
“Male audacity is at an all-time high,” she said. “I’m in the trenches out here—you have no idea.”
“God, I’m so glad I’m not on the dating apps.”
“What a time to be alive.”
She tossed the rag in the sanitizer bucket and went to collect sugar caddies, and I stopped and looked at my phone. Chris sent me a picture of Woofarine. I smiled.
Last week he’d sent one with him in it too.
I didn’t save it to my camera roll like I usually did when I got Woofarine pictures because it felt weird saving a picture of my boyfriend’s best friend.
But I kept going back to the text thread to look at it.
It was getting farther and farther up the feed as more messages between us came in.
It would be easier to save it, put it in a folder where I could find it.
I didn’t. Because I shouldn’t want to find it. I don’t know why I did.
I hadn’t seen him much lately. We’d both been busy, me more than him.
I’d started the graze board gig right after the engagement party three months ago and it was taking up all my spare time.
I hadn’t had time to read, so we weren’t sharing books right now either.
And I wasn’t taking Woofarine as much as usual because Donna made a comment about him being in the guesthouse.
I couldn’t have him at home because Phil didn’t like dogs.
He’d swatted Woofarine off the sofa a couple of months ago and Woofarine bit him.
After that I let Chris keep him most of the time.
I felt bad. I’d agreed to co-parent with him and I wasn’t.
I still came after work to walk him when Chris was on shift, but Chris wasn’t there when I did, so I didn’t see him.
I missed seeing him. I missed it a lot.
Next month we were all going to the cabin again for Christmas and staying until New Year’s Day.
Mike was driving up early like last time, and I was getting a ride with Chris again because I had to work.
I was more excited about that than the trip itself.
I wanted to catch up with him, see what he’d been up to.
I was nervous about the rest.
I did talk to Mike about the drinking thing, like Chris said I should. Mike was apologetic, he owned it, and since then he hadn’t been drinking at all. But he would at the cabin, and I was worried I’d leave there feeling like I had last time.
Things with Mike were good, everything was okay. I’d even told him I loved him finally—and I did. It just felt fragile for some reason, like any little thing could change my mind about it.
I was always on the fence with Mike. I was lukewarm about us, all the time.
We never fought, we never disagreed on anything. He was thoughtful and good to me. But I wasn’t feral for him. Lexi was right.
At first that didn’t bother me. Mutual respect, having fun with each other—these things were more important.
But could I see us together in the long run? I was no closer to knowing that than I was three months ago. And it was beginning to matter more than ever, because I was about to make a huge decision about our relationship that would be very hard to undo.
I glanced up at the clock. Donna wasn’t back from the store yet. I had a question, and I’d promised myself today would be the day I finally asked it. I was so worried about what she might say that I didn’t even tell Mike.
“Hey, you still doing that secret shopper thing?” Lexi called from the dining room.
“No.”
She came around the corner with her sugar tray. “Why?”
“It was just too much wear and tear on my car. It defeated the purpose,” I said, wiping a hot sauce bottle.
“Wasn’t Chris driving you around for that?”
“He only took me once.”
“So Mike started taking you?”
I shook my head. “It’s too much gas for his truck.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why do these men who don’t need trucks buy trucks?”
“He does need it. For the plumbing job.”
“The plumbing job? The one he doesn’t actually do?”
“He does it,” I said defensively.
“Oh yeah? When?” She cocked her head.
“I don’t know, all the time. He did that one thing at Mall of America, and he was working for Tony a ton in the spring…” I trailed off when I realized that was over six months ago and Mike hadn’t worked for Tony since. “Well who cares if he does it?” I said. “He’s going to, when Tony retires.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, jamming Sweet’N Low into her caddy. “I heard Janessa say he doesn’t want it.”
I paused to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“Mike doesn’t want it. She said her dad’s leaving it to his business partner.”
“Are… are you sure?”
“I mean, that’s what she said.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Okay. Maybe he just wants to work there and not own it. Owning a business is hard.”
She gave me a look. “Girl, he doesn’t want to work there either. He doesn’t work there. You are dating a personal trainer—with a part-time job—and a giant fucking truck that he doesn’t need.”
I stared at her.
“How did you not know this?” she asked. “I mean, what do you guys talk about?”
“I don’t know, lots of stuff…”
“Clearly not enough,” she mumbled.
I chewed on my lip. Mike was a little elusive sometimes.
I’d ask him questions and he’d just make a joke or change the subject.
And honestly, by the time I got off work and did all my side jobs and got over there, I was too tired to try to drag things out of him when he clearly didn’t want to talk about something.
It never occurred to me that he wasn’t telling me anything important though.
The back door opened and Donna and Janessa came in with groceries.
“Hey,” Lexi and I said at the same time.
“Hello,” Donna said tightly. She set the bags down on the stainless-steel counter we were working on. “Can you two put this away? And then I need someone to clean the ice maker before you go home.”
“I can stay,” I said.
“Good. Thanks,” she said, not making eye contact with me.
I took a deep breath and pulled up the courage I’d been trying to gather all week. “Also, I was wondering if I could ask a favor.”
Donna looked at her watch. “What?”
I licked my lips. “I’ve been making these graze boxes.
Like the one I brought to Tony’s birthday last month?
And I’ve been getting a lot of orders and I don’t really have the counter space at home and I was wondering if I could use the kitchen—after we’re closed, of course.
I’d clean up everything. You wouldn’t even know I was here. ”
She looked at me, bored. “And I suppose you’ll need the fridge as well?”
“Just for one night. I’d deliver them all the next day. Or if you’re okay with it, they can come in and get them. They’d probably buy things while they’re here. Pastries or they might sit and eat. I’ve got a business page. It has a lot of followers. It could be good for the café too.”
I tried not to fidget.
Please.
There was no way I could keep making the graze boxes from home—mine or Mike’s. We didn’t have the room. And I was actually making money on them. It was sort of taking off and it was the only side job I didn’t hate.
Donna looked at me down her nose like she knew what this meant to me and she might say no just because of that. I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like me.
“Fine,” she said, like she was saying it against her will. “I’ll get you an alarm code.”
I let out a relieved breath. “Thank you!”
She mumbled something that sounded like a You’re welcome and they left. Janessa never even said hello.
Lexi rolled her eyes at the door. “They’re such bitches.”
I gasped. “Shhhh! Don’t say that in here,” I whispered.
“Why? If they fire me, they might actually have to work, and we know how much those two hate that.”
No, they didn’t work a lot. Janessa was a manager, but she spent most of her time in the office doing I didn’t really know what. Donna hardly ever came in. I mean, it was her business, she could run it however she wanted, but still.
“I don’t think Donna likes me,” I said quietly.
“Uh, she doesn’t. She has that weird parasitic relationship with her son where she feels the need to compete with you for his attention.”
I made a face. “You think so?”
“Nobody is good enough for her baby,” she said sarcastically. “If you marry him, that shit’s gonna be a fucking nightmare. She’ll wear a white dress on your wedding day, I’d bet a thousand bucks on it.” She wiped ketchup off a sugar jar. “So the meat board thing’s going good, huh?”
I shrugged over my side work. “I didn’t really think it would take off, but people like them. It’s not seasonal like the snackle boxes. They make good gifts.”
“How much are you charging?” she asked, tossing the rag back into the sanitizer.
I opened my phone and went to my price sheet and showed it to her. She looked it over.
“I think you can go up by at least ten bucks a box,” she said. “Twenty on the big ones. And if you buy in bulk, you’ll get better prices. Do you belong to a wholesale club or anything?”
I put my phone away. “I can’t afford the membership.”
“It’s expensive being poor,” she mumbled. “So, when were you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That you’re moving in with Mike,” she said.
I paused to look at her. “How did you know?”